What the Hell is Going on in 'Star Wars: Episode IX'?

There is yet another disturbance in The Force, with the news that Colin Trevorrow is no longer going to be the director of 2019’s Star Wars: Episode IX<.

The news broke late Tuesday afternoon, with a statement from Lucasfilm and parent company Disney that said, simply, “Lucasfilm and Colin Trevorrow have mutually chosen to part ways on Star Wars: Episode IX. Colin has been a wonderful collaborator throughout the development process but we have all come to the conclusion that our visions for the project differ. We wish Colin the best and will be sharing more information about the film soon.”

This is far from the first time Lucasfilm has backtracked on its filmmakers. Not only were Christopher Miller and Phil Lord fired from the untitled Han Solo movie earlier this year before shooting had completed, but Gareth Edwards was reportedly sidelined during reshoots and post-production on last year’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and director Josh Trank was dropped from an untitled Star Wars movie back in 2015 after his Fantastic Four movie for Fox was similarly panned by critics.

Fortunately the film hasn’t even started production–unlike the Han Solo fracas–and it appears the director of series’ next entry, Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, has ruffled nary a feather. Despite its rousing success, the Star Wars franchise is beginning to seem quite unwieldy.